TEXT BY SURUCHI DUGGAL, NIKKI DUGGAL
The lunch at ‘Mannat,’ was as unpretentious as the host. It was a bit unnerving: to see Shah Rukh Khan, India’s biggest superstar, playing the role of a gracious person-of-the-house, as he welcomed us into his beautiful mansion in Bandra (personally picking up a chair for one of us when he realized that there wasn’t adequate seating). Over the next four hours SRK juggled between an exhausting photo shoot, chatting with Gauri and Farah Khan (who dropped by to say hello), and playing host to us. SRK didn’t lose his patience once – a consummate professional. But he was more than that: shorn of the cinestar image, and the media hype, we found SRK amenable, witty, intelligent, candid, and remarkably grounded. Was this the ‘real’ SRK? Maybe. He did say, in the course of this interview, that publicly, he is what people expect him to be. And that it’s easier to do that, than be himself. Of course, by his own admission, SRK can put up a convincing act – an actor’s prerogative – and portray himself as whoever he chooses to be. But if this was an act, then it deserves to be taken at face value simply because it was such a good one. He has us convinced – SRK is no Bollywood egomaniac. He is King Khan for a reason: an actor and a gentleman. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.
What did you have for breakfast?
I normally don’t have breakfast. I go straight for lunch. And usually I don’t take chawal or roti. Not because I’m dieting, just that I am not used to it. I am extremely Pathan like that. My mother was Hyderabadi and dad was Peshawari and both cooked really well. I only have meat – mostly chicken. Not that I am a food person. In fact I don’t find food yummy at all. For me it’s just another process that I go through when I get up. I eat twice a day.
What’s your exercise routine like?
Timing wise it’s rather strange. I do it after putting the kids to sleep and once I’ve spent some time with Gauri. I start working out
at 3-3:30 am, and sleep very late. When I’m shooting I sleep by about 3:30-4 am and when I’m not I crash by 6 am or after I’ve seen the kids off to school. I can’t lift too much weight because I have had a few injuries and two surgeries. I am a no-nonsense workout guy: very little weight. No music. No talking to anyone. No partners. No hanging around in the gym…
That’s quite serious…
Not serious – just that I hate it. Nobody likes to workout. I was taught by my first film producer that you need to finish off the things you don’t like doing first. I was taking a long time to finish this guy’s film because I didn’t like it. So one day he came to me and said “You hate my film?” And I said, “I hate you.” And he retorted, “Look, do you want to keep seeing me for longer? Finish me off fast.” Now he is a friend. So a workout is a bit like that for me. I finish in about 40-45 minutes, but I have my own regimen. It’s a mix of a lot of things.
I won’t bore you with the specialties but there is a kettle bell, a bit of TRX, then I do a lot of freehand, but I don’t get big muscles like film heroes do…
You do have a great body…
But I don’t get big muscles. I don’t really like them. I eat just twice a day and because of that they keep giving me all these vitamins and stuff when I work out. I just have black coffee and lots of it.
So you sit with the kids and have dinner? Actually, if I am at home, I am only ever with the kids. I am very unsocial and don’t take phone calls at home. If I really have to, I take calls in the bathroom. It’s become a joke. If I’m in the bathroom for too long my kids say, “Papa, come out. Stop taking calls.” So I don’t take calls and a lot of people dislike me because they think I am pompous and arrogant, but it’s just that I’d rather be with my kids than talk to them. And if they don’t like that then so be it.
You’re a Delhi boy. Any favourite hang outs?
I have this strange sense of detachment to places and things. My biggest attachment to Delhi stems from the fact that my parents’ graves are there. Gauri’s family is in Delhi too, and I like the kids to go back and meet the grandparents. I lost a lot of my family very early, and I feel that attachment to any space or place is with the people who are related to it. Unfortunately the people related to it, don’t exist anymore. But I make it a point now, maybe because I am getting older, a little nostalgic, to go back to Delhi. I recently went with my kids, and I took them to the house where I used to live. I wanted them to understand that I was a very poor guy. And to me, to be a star; to have a big house, to have a car, to travel first class – is not important. When you are used to not having things, you don’t get attached to them. People don’t realize it but I am a spendthrift, I blow all my money on my films.
Today I have an excess of everything and in our house my kids have always been surrounded by the likes of Farah Khan, Karan Johar, Hrithik Roshan, Abhishek Bachchan, and the biggest actresses – Katrina (Kaif),
Juhi (Chawla), Madhuri (Dixit) and Priyanka (Chopra). So for a long time my kids thought that everybody worked in film. I just wanted them to realise that for me it is so fantastic to know that even today if I see Madhuri or Juhi, it’s like, “Wow I am meeting Madhuri Dixit.” I’m trying to say it’s different for me because I’m not from a Jilmi background. If I go and see Madhuri today on the sets of Jhalak I won’t be like, “Hi Mandy.” Film people are not like that. They’ve known each other for a long time and are used to each other, but I am an outsider.
To me the only thing that seems real is Delhi. Bombay doesn’t seem real. This house doesn’t seem real. I mean it is beautiful, but to me the reality has always been the road that I travelled in Delhi. So it’s not just Humayun’s Tomb, or Karim’s restaurant. My biggest attachment is to the houses I lived in. I have a few memories of Asian Games Village when that was made, because we used to hang out there…
What about with Gauri?
I didn’t hang out with Gauri too much because she was just 14 when I met her, and I was 18.
A lot has changed since those days…
I go to Ferozshah Kotla to watch the IPL matches, and remember the time my mum used to work close by. She was a magistrate in the court there – and would take me to her office, drop me at Ferozshah Kotla and I would watch a match. I remember asking Imran Khan for an autograph once, and that time he had just got out… and he shouted at me. Now I go to the same stadium for IPL and people are screaming my name.
My attachment to Delhi is very surreal. Like when I go for promotions of my films:
I was there for ‘Don,’ my friends were there – Farah, Ritesh, Priyanka and all and we decided to meet up at the Taj Mansingh. I remember having coffee there…you go downstairs and there was a coffee shop, with animals on the wall. I don’t know if it’s still there… I think the Taj Mansingh hotel still holds a bit of nostalgia… The other day my family took me to a Chinese place there. It’s strange for me – I know the steps, I remember being there with `50 in my pocket to have repeated coffee refills, and now I go there, without having money, and I know in case I don’t pay, they’ll be all right. They’ll tell me that I can pay later…which is very strange. It’s a bit like a dream which I feel like I’ll wake up from and suddenly find myself back in my house, which is C7-223 SDA – a small DDA flat. I took my kids there the other day and left a letter for the person staying there. I don’t know if he’d believe that I had come. Then there’s the Deer Park… there are so many places in Delhi I remember but they’re none are landmarks.
I remember when a few friends launched a company called Airtel, and made me their brand ambassador. It was a small company in Delhi which sold small telephones. They said, “Shahrukh hum kisi ko nahin jaante, abhi tu actor ban gaya hai, so you be the brand ambassador.” (Shahrukh we don’t know anyone, and now that you’ve become an actor, please be our brand ambassador). And now Airtel is so big.
Tell us about your transition from that reality into a world of cinema, to where you are today…
It’s the same, it’s transient and it’ll move on. When you see me on television and all, I don’t speak my heart out because people don’t want to hear that, they ask you stupid questions. Like “How is Katrina Kaif, or are you seeing Priyanka Chopra?” Which are stupid nonsensical things, and that irks me. Is this what you’d want to know from a person who has worked for twenty years? Now everybody’s life is boring, and you don’t need to know my life, but if you have taken some time out to know me, find a part of me that might help a kid to understand life better, or understand cinema better.
How do you work so hard?
My 73rd film is going to release now; I have worked relentlessly for 20 years. I work for 16-18 hours a day. I like it. I really like it. My wife asks me all the time how I do this every morning. And I say, “I love it.” I love acting and it’s as simple as that. And I don’t think I’m an actor because I know acting; I think I’m an actor because, that’s what I was meant to be. That’s it. This is all I know.
Did you always know that?
No. I wanted to be a sportsman, and then my parents died. Some people in the industry told me that I could never be a film actor. I work with those people now and I have no ego about it. I am well educated; I have done my BA and my Masters. I was a good student and I think I could have been good at most things I did. But I became an actor. I remember this lady – Saroj Khan – who was the senior most choreographer, and she said, “Tumhe dance nahin aata hai, par tumhe feel aata hai dance ka.” (You don’t know how to dance but you’ve got the feel for it.) I met some nice people then who were very kind tome. I cannot express enough gratitude for their kindness. G.P. Sippy looked at me and said, “Your hair is like a bear,” and then cast me as a hero in his film. As it was my first film, I didn’t know the importance but in the film industry it was like “wow.” Star sons don’t get launches like that.
People like Hema Malini and Rakesh Roshan who are my friends now were so good to me when I came in. They gave me the impression that I was family. I lost my mom and dad and my sister fell sick and for a while I thought I had no family left. In about three months in the film industry here, I was made to feel that this whole film industry was waiting for a son. They made me feel so wonderful.
I know people from the outside think that there is only drinking and partying and womanising in the industry but it ’s not like that. This industry is very secular.
You bring a lot of energy and talent to your work. You have gained a lot from the industry?
I might have, but then I am not the only guy who has really gained from the film industry. There are big stars who are perhaps not the best actors, and you wonder whether talent is everything. But you can’t question the fact that here is a job company that allows everyone to come and be themselves and gives them an opportunity. In the film industry even if you can’t act, they’ll employ you. They find something nice about you, something positive in you.
You know for us, from outside it’s a whole different story that we get to hear…
I know. And sometimes I don’t mind letting people believe that. I am an actor. You think that all I stand for is Chammak Challo? I’ll show you Chammak Challo! It’s okay, it’s easier for me to be Chammak Challo, it’s difficult for me to be me. The whole day I am working in front of a camera, I don’t know what is me. How am I real?
Do you try and make time for yourself?
I am always with myself. I don’t do anything else. I am not a very social person, not because of any other reason but the fact that I am awkward with people. It’s very strange. I do a job of entertaining millions of people, but I am completely ill-at-ease with people. I am courteous but I am not very talkative or anything. The easy part for me is that 90 percent of the people like to talk to me about films, and that’s what I do, so I can do it. But if I was a regular guy you had to meet in the evening, I am very boring and shabby…
What is the real SRK brand?
Brand I wouldn’t know. A lot of titles are given to people to oversimplify what they must be like. I like it – there’s ‘King Khan,’ there’s Baadshah, and one of them is also the ‘SRK Brand.’ To me it’s more like a title than me being an actual brand. Maybe I was one of the first guys who started advertising on a large scale. I have a very simple logic – I do only those films which I really want to do, I never do a film for any other reason. Everything else that I do, like for example, if I need a car, I’ll go dance somewhere and make the money. I’ll never take a car because I am doing a film. In fact I never charge for my films… very few people know that. So all these star fees that get written about me is all crap. I don’t charge for my films.
You also do a lot of philanthropic work that not many people are aware of…
Yes, I do exactly what I feel like. There’s no organisation involved. If I feel like doing something for someone, then I just ask my people to call them and give them whatever money they require but I make sure that they don’t know it came from me. I don’t want them to thank me. In Islam if you want to do something for someone, you don’t tell them. You don’t carry any of the peripherals of your life on your sleeve and that includes charity, and what you think you represent as a brand. Inshallah I am going to make a cancer ward.
Tell us a bit about your production company
Red Chillies and your upcoming movie… I am doing two films this year. One is with Farah, and it’s called ‘Happy New Year,’ which, Inshallah, should start in December. It’s a fun Farah Khan kind of film. It’s a big production too – I like to do big films. Not that I have anything against small films – I’ve done Paheli and Asoka – but I want cinema to be really cinematic, and I can afford to do that. So till I can, I will make films like Ra.One and Don, My Name is Khan and Om Shanti Om…
Red Chillies has a VFX unit, which I think is the best in the country. We don’t make the best films but VFX wise there is no one who can touch our company. Ra.One was a test of what we can do in this company. We’re working on Hrithik’s next film. I’m a strong believer of bringing in more technology. It doesn’t make too much money right now, but we have sustained it for nine years, so hopefully when things look up in terms of VFX, then Red Chillies will grow.
Then I am planning to make another couple of films with a friend of mine from Delhi. One is called ‘A for Apple, B for billi and C for Kutta’. I have never done a Delhi-based film. Chak de was supposed to be filmed in Delhi, but we shot at different locations…so this is a Delhi film, it is set around Defence Colony.
You recently tweeted – ‘The free man is he who does not fear to go to the end of his thought. Be free today and always.’ That is an inspiring message, do you live by that?
It’s actually a line from the book by Eduardo Galeano, he’s a South American writer who writes very dark and scary stuff, but has a very interesting take on life. I like to face things, although life is not confrontational – it’s going to go on despite you and inspite of you.
Now unfortunately, I don’t tweet that much anymore. I used to write personal things about my family and the things they do, but people, it’s so sad: journalism today is analysis from the point of view of the story that you want to sell. I feel like I can’t say what I really feel like and I guess that’s why actors live in ivory towers. Not because they like to, but because people push them. So now I am very careful. If somebody asks me about an actor, or an actress, or a director, I say what should be said. I am proper, and I am a liar, because it’s not what I really feel. So if you ask me about a person, I’ll say I love her, and that it’s an honour to work with her. I am an actor and I can lie through my teeth and you won’t even know. I do that in my films for a living, and to do that in real life is easier for me. The difficulty for an actor is always being honest.
Have people confronted you?
Oh yes. There was this one gentleman who said, “You are a Muslim, you are not good enough to be in this country.” I said, ‘Screw you. I will be in this country.’ My Name is Khan was released, and there was this whole big thing in the media about me not being a patriot. My father was a freedom fighter, and I would die for my country, 100%. If I can’t die I’ll go sing and dance on the borders of my country...
What would you change about this country?
I would like to educate every young girl, because I have huge faith in women. I have been surrounded by women all my life. The reason for my success in life is women. From my mother to my daughter and all the women who have come in between. Actors, directors, friends, I have just had women making my life what it is. They are smarter, they are intelligent and they smell much better than men. So it’s as simple as that and I think they deserve a much higher place.
I have done 70 odd films. My heroine is not just a showpiece, and I am not talking about Paheli, or Asoka, but I am also talking about Om Shanti Om. You’ll remember Deepika (Padukone), You remember Kajol in every film I’ve done with her, you’ll remember Rani (Mukherjee). And of course it’s because of their talent. Even if they are playing sexy and cool, it’s all right to be sexy and cool. I would like my daughter to be an actress. I would like my daughter to be sexy and cool. I’d like her to be a moviestar. That’s how much respect I have for women as movie stars.
What does luxury mean to you?
I have always believed that luxury is being able to walk into a store, not being able to decide which shirt you like, and being able to buy both of them.
Your rule of thumb for success?
There are two words for success, doing and trying. I don’t think even hard work works out all the time, but doing and trying instead of just you know, thinking or discussing. I just do. The worst thing that can happen by doing is you can go wrong, which is also quite cool. Just do and try.
Which city would you like to spend your twilight years in?
I guess by the time the twilight of my life comes we’ll have cities on the moon.
Movie lines closest to your heart?
“I love you, k k k k Kiran.” It works for men and women both. Actually I think I like two or three – “Haar ke jeetne wale ko Baazigar kehte hain.” And then I like “Agar ant mein sab kuch theek na ho, toh it’s not – the end, picture abhi baaki hai.” And the third one I really like from Devdas is, “Hum lailaaj ho gaye Chunni babu.” I think it’s one of the most romantic lines in the world.
Your favourite holiday destination with the kids?
Going anywhere with the kids is great, but I quite like London. I have been to Austria with them on a skiing trip and it was absolutely fantastic. What’s the secret behind your gorgeous hair? I have absolutely no idea. I don’t use shampoo or soap in my hair. I wash it with water. Sometimes my hair stylist will put shampoo but that is rare. So I don’t have a comb or a brush and I don’t use a specific shampoo unless I am shooting. I don’t use any products on my hair. Maybe it’s genetic. My mother had hair to die for…
Any favourite ride? If you had to drive a car on the streets on Mumbai with no traffic, what car would you prefer?
I’m not into cars at all. As far as Mumbai is concerned, a Santro is perfect! I mean I don’t do that but I am beginning to teach my son – Aaryan now. Not to drive but just giving him the feel of a steering wheel now that he’s 15 years old. Of course Aaryan can’t even afford that right now.
What are the values that you would impart to your children?
A sense of humour – I think that’s extremely important. Being non-judgmental of people, successes or failures, is another. We are very judgmental – I have gone through that, and it’s not nice.
What does happiness mean to you? Extremely difficult to answer because at different times happiness means different things to me. I feel the happiest when I’m sitting around in a pair of shorts and a vest with junk food all over my body, with my children by my side watching a silly inane film and drinking as much coke or pepsi or coffee. Just being completely spoilt and having someone come to the room just to change the channels on the television!
A line that defines Delhiites?
Robust, loud, and carefree! Apart from that I think Delhiites know how to be naturally macho. You know the way they walk and talk. And if they fight they fight, it’s not just talk. That’s why I’ll pick up fights sometimes and say, “You don’t know, I’m from Delhi!”